#170143  by Jon S.
 
I'm close to copping one of these two pedals, probably new. Can anyone help with these question, please?

1. If you've tried both, how close, really, is the EH to the Mu-Tron? I've read on TGP and here that's it's very close but maybe not exactly equal. Is it close enough to save the $$ on the EH or enough of a difference to spring for the Mu-Tron?

2. How is the triggering on each? For the Tron Up model on my Line 6 M13 (which gets remarkably useful tones, if not precisely like the original), unless I precede it with a compressor, I'll be killed by the high transient spikes. With the compressor, it's perfect. Will I suffer from the same outcome with either of these two pedals and thus also need to precede whichever one I cop with a compressor/limiter?

3. Where do you place your Mu-Tron or Q-Tron in your signal chain? More specifically, when're you're using a guitar without an on-board 'Blaster and are including a 'Blaster-in-a-pedal effect on your board, do you place the 'Blaster pedal first, before, or second, after, the Mu-Tron or Q-tron? (Same question, I suppose, for any other type of clean boost you normally place at the front of your chain.)

Many thanks!
 #170144  by wpmartin1979
 
My vote is for the Microtron IV. It’s super smooth and I don’t use a compressor at all even though I have the option on the Boostron 2 I don’t need it. Not too harsh at all. When I got the Microtron I couldn’t believe how good it sounded compared to the other ones i tried. I never tried the Q Tron plus though, which I hear is good. But Microtron takes up far less real estate.
 #170145  by NeilG1
 
I have a Q-tron+. I admit that I'm not an EF connoisseur - I really don't use it all that often, but I really like the sound I can get from it. I did have a bit of trouble taming it before I had a guitar with OBEL. Now I don't find that to be a problem. I usually now switch to humbucker on my middle pickup and find it triggers really nicely. I do not have a blaster in my guitar. My closest thing is the clean boost I get from my Thick Air - I have the TA with the first stage always on, and have it after the Q-Tron, outside of OBEL so I can have it on whether or not my OBEL is engaged. Only thing I have in front of the Q-tron is my Octave. Seems to work well for me. By works well - I mean I can get it to behave predictably most of the time. I like the tone I get from it, but as I say, it's not a key piece of my rig and I haven't done a deep dive on many options. For the price they can be found for, I really like mine. The need for a separate power supply, however, is a giant pain.
 #170146  by Jon S.
 
Thank you both for your answers so far.

BTW, am I the only one whose browser won't allow him to connect to Mu-Tron?

Your connection is not private
Attackers might be trying to steal your information from www.mutron.com (for example, passwords, messages, or credit cards). Learn more
NET::ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID


EDIT: Now this link is working for me - WFT?!?! https://mu-tron.com/products/micro-tron-iv/
 #170147  by Jon S.
 
BTW, the Quickstart Guide for the Mu-Tron Micro-Tron IV says, "Pickups below 7K ohms should be used with a clean boost pedal."

https://www.mu-tron.com/wp-content/uplo ... ide_v1.pdf

As I recall I had this same issue with my ancient Boss TW-1: some vintage single coil pickups were insufficiently robust to trigger the wah. This is part of why I asked if folks using this pedal are preceding it with either a compressor (question 2) or a boost pedal (question 3).

Of my 3 Jerrycasters, the Philtone Tiger and Scarlet Fire Wolf won't be problematic because, on the former, the middle Super 2 split is very robust and the latter has an on-board 'Blaster. My Reverend Avenger, however, has a 6.0K vintage style single coil in the middle position with a unity gain buffer, only.
 #170148  by wpmartin1979
 
Jon S. wrote: Tue Mar 02, 2021 1:08 pm BTW, the Quickstart Guide for the Mu-Tron Micro-Tron IV says, "Pickups below 7K ohms should be used with a clean boost pedal."

https://www.mu-tron.com/wp-content/uplo ... ide_v1.pdf

As I recall I had this same issue with my ancient Boss TW-1: some vintage single coil pickups were insufficiently robust to trigger the wah. This is part of why I asked if folks using this pedal are preceding it with either a compressor (question 2) or a boost pedal (question 3).

Of my 3 Jerrycasters, the Philtone Tiger and Scarlet Fire Wolf won't be problematic because, on the former, the middle Super 2 split is very robust and the latter has an on-board 'Blaster. My Reverend Avenger, however, has a 6.0K vintage style single coil in the middle position with a unity gain buffer, only.
The Microtron sounds good with a boost - a blaster is all it needs, not very much. Their website has been down a while.
Try PitBull Audio in San Diego, they are an authorized dealer
 #170149  by Jon S.
 
This is my new alternative to quoting the message above me. 8)

>> Try PitBull Audio in San Diego, they are an authorized dealer

I just did - they're out of stock on the Micro-Tron IV! Though they have a nice price on the Micro Q-Tron: https://www.pitbullaudio.com/shop?q=micro-tron
 #170150  by lbpesq
 
I have both a Micro Tron III, (very similar to the IV but without the interchangeable cartridges), and an EHX Micro Q-Tron. They are both excellent envelopes. The Micro Tron III is more tweakable and takes up less real estate. But good tones can be dialed in with each.

Bill, tgo
 #170152  by Searing75
 
I recently bought a Mutron IV and it has blown away all of my previous attempts at the Jerry filter tone. It is very easy to set, and it does not have those piercing transients that so many filters suffer from. I am able to get great tones with every one of my guitars, including the Tele. It is placed after my fuzz and octave pedals.
 #170153  by cyrusj83
 
Hey there. I had a Q-Tron+ that I recently sold to my bandmate in favor of the Micro-Tron IV and I'm so happy that I did.

I first got the Q-Tron+ in 2017 with a passive Strat but couldn't really get it to quack properly. Put a volume pedal afterwards and it helped a little but not enough.

Added a buffer to my Strat and upgraded to Super-2's and then added the OBEL. It definitely helped but even still, I found the Q-Tron+ too finicky. I hated the peaking and I hated how the gain and volume knobs were one and the same. I felt like I had to pick between either quack or volume, and I didn't find that very conducive to calibrating it properly. So it never really sounded how I wanted, whether or not my guitar was passive or whether there was a boost in front of it or a boost in the FX loop of the pedal or whatever.


Got the Micro-Tron IV now with the red Opto-Mod and I love it. It's more expensive but it doesn't leave me worried about the quack or any peaking or the volume. Oddly enough I was listening to an old practice today and cringing at how my Q-Tron would sorta stop quacking once I got high enough on the board.

Also I keep it first in my chain.

TL;DR The Q-Tron makes you choose between volume and quack control. The Micro-Tron does not.

My two cents are worth every penny! Good luck in your quest!
 #170154  by Jon S.
 
If someone spots a new or like new Micro-Tron IV for sale from someplace other than Mu-Tron itself, please PM me.

I'm hesitant to order now from Mu-Tron directly for two reasons. One, I'm continuing to experience issues with Mu-Tron's website. Chrome won't even allow me to connect to it, now, due to the security issue I described in a prior post. Two, there are too many people in this thread who are reporting both product performance and support problems now with Mu-Tron: https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index ... m.1907438/
 #170155  by Jon S.
 
OK, well, given the compliments the Micro-Tron IV has gotten here and elsewhere for its performance and tone AND that Mu-Tron allowed me to use PayPal (which provides buyers with relatively excellent protections) on checkout, I just pulled the trigger on a Mu-Tron IV with the standard module (gold, I believe).

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed now!

What really sold me on the Micro-Tron IV were the folks who own it who've reported that its trigger is solid and it lacks the potentially disturbing high transient spikes of some of its competitors. The latter factor is extremely critical to me based on my experience with other brands of auto-wahs and envelope filters.
 #170157  by Jon S.
 
Yes. And because I paid through PayPal, accepting of course that nothing’s perfect, I felt comfortable buying it direct.
 #170158  by wpmartin1979
 
Jon S. wrote: Wed Mar 03, 2021 12:38 pm Yes. And because I paid through PayPal, accepting of course that nothing’s perfect, I felt comfortable buying it direct.
You really can’t go wrong with Mutron stuff. I run the Microtron after their Boostron and Octave:Fuzz - so many incredible funky and trippy tones available with just those three pedals alone - so much fun to jam and mix it up!

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